Mohave County miner., 1887-03-05

| ~ UAA SVOAr <tiau - Hus VIA hAy ocoo
| jacket too.
Jock, by-the-way, was tame heron
"a craigit heron"--so called from the
length Of his ne,k, which you could have
tied knot upon without putting the
bird to much Inconvenience A long.
legged stupid, old bird he was, who
used to catch minnows and trout for
himself till he n1uddled all the stream,
then 60 to sleep for an hour. with the
water up to his kness, till IL got clear
again"
While Willie went away to get Jack
and his best jacket, we stood at the
blacksnnth's door. and watched the,
sturdy burn the-winds putting red-hot'
tire on new curt wheel, then pouring.
buckets OF water over II to cool 1t and
make IL fresh. This was always great
fun to us.
! By.and-by, back came Willie, dressed
for the occasion, and carrying the great
heron, precisely as mother carries hen.
baby, only be could not get 1t to keep ii,
long legs doubled up, which made mat
ters look awkward. Willie put Jack
down at his feet, and took snuff out Of q
/ sheep-horn null, and handed tie box to
| us, and we all took snuff.
Our complement was now complete,
/ So off we all went whooping for Joy.
along the road that led TO the wood
4 through which the Den burn ran. And
after us--hop--hop-hopping, and help
ing himself along with his wings--came
/ daft Willie's heron in the most ridicul.
! Gus manner imaginable. No wonder
several people on the road drew rein to
! gaze after Us; we were queer pack OF
sportsrien.
! That dear old Ten burr, a IL used to
be in days Of yore; fancy can see 1t
now, even as j write. Alas. thirty
/ years have fiel since the date of this
little sketch, and the romance has fed
from the bonnie burn. II iias been inl-
proved oat Of all It's beauty.
| But then--well, it rose ia peat moss
"a marshy, boggy, dianal swamp
through which 1t flowed silently and
slnegishly, and here we caught many q
lordiy ce!. Escaping at last, II rushed
merrily along by the side OF a road, ovta
sandy, pebtly bottom. bordered by
long slips Of watercress; then 1t went of
to the left, and became the marsh" be-
| twixt my fathers land and neighbos-
ing farm. And here even was good gutl-
ding ground, and many lusty
trout / have hauled TO bank frof..
beneath the green overhanging banks.
! The the Den burn went whipping away
through haughs and green meadows,
and under many q rustic bridge, till II
= reached at last the dark and rocky
wooded glen Of Masdencraig. Here its
| waters feed those miil-dams, and turned
a monster mill wlieel that seemed always
to roll round and round, night and day;
its black wet sides glancing m the sun
inc, or glittering when the motn
shone. Onward 1t dashed for another
mile and then flowed sullenly past the
foot Of gloomy pine-wood, where, ira
dition alleged, more than one farmer had
been robbed and killed while returning
late at night from the market; where a
mother had hanged herself, and where,
even in our day, little Sammie Stuart,
when locking for birds nests, found a
murdered BARN.
Close by this wood was to be our gud-
ding ground to-day, nevertheless.
Little we cared for tradition. 1t was
q lovely day--a day that would have
made an old man young again, Spring
was On the trecs-spring was every
where. In the woodland glades the
s,ented furze was all in golden bloom; the
feathery larches were green-green, and
draped with Little crimson tassels; while
pink-white fingers protruded from tine
twiglets of the dark and solemn pin,s.
Spring was in the hearts Of the birds
the mellow Huting merle, che saucy,
+. mocking mayis, the modest sispin, the
bold, bright chaffie, the bonnie, wee
rose-iinnet that sang on the thorn.
And spring was In our hearts, ay,
even in Jocks, though the green heather
was high enough almost to bury him.
But here is the Den burn. II Is bright
and clear, ani not too full--just in fine
condition for guddling. F.
And now my English reader viii be
initiated into the mysteries. OF guddlirig;
that is, IL he does not already know
what guddling is.
| Of goes every jacket; then our sleeves
aie rolled up 10 the very shoulders, and
our trousers high up ever the knees. We
are bare-leggad, bare. armed, and ready
for action. We begin by building a
strong wall OF green turf, which we
tear up from the burns bank at each
! side of the stream; then we make heap
Of extra big turfs close to the burn, ami
dashing them and beating them down,
speedily complete our dam.
! Hurrah! the burn Ia almost dry be-
meath the dam; only in the pools the
water still abides, and into these 70
nearly all the trout. Beautiful yellow
trout, speckled with red!
! We wade In the water; the two VIII
les wade, and Davie wades, and Jock
/ wades; Jock uses his bill: we thrust our
bare arms in under the green banks,
needless OF eel bites, needless of the
presence of ugly water rats. We seize
the trout by the round, slobbery heads,
after working them into corner, and
pitch them out on TO the bank, and
laugh TO see them leap and dance, their
bodies shimmering white and golden in
1 the sunshine.
Every fish that Jock catches he tries
TO swallow. hut Willie pulls them away
and casts them ashore.
! Presently Jock gets frog and chokes
on II. There is nothing sticking out